Sanitary preserving food container such as cans or boxes of any shape



Nov. 13, 1928.

H. KARL SANITARY PRESBRVING FOOD CONTAINER SUCH AS CANS 0R BOXES OF ANYSHAPE Filed Feb. 13, 1924 Fig. I 7-75. 2

Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

UNETED STATES PATENT orrlca HEINRICH KARL, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

srinrranv rnnsnnvrne noon eon'ramnn soon AS runs on BOXES OF ANY SHABE.

Application filed February 13, 1924. Serial No. 692,524.

The great danger that threatens the health of the consumer of theeatables contained in preserving cans or boxes made 01 metal which mustbe opened with a can-opener orother instrument whereby the metal must becut or torn off, is caused by small partieles of the metal that fallinto the catables when the can or box is being opened. These small metalparticles cause injuries to the intestinal organs when swallowed withthe foodintg which they fell. i

The main object of the present invention is therefore to create suchpreserving cans and preserving boxes which can be opened in such awaythat no small metal particles will falliinto the eatables containedin said cans or boxes.

Another advantage is that there is no canopener or other instrumentnecessary for opening the ioodcontainer.

A further advantage is the employment of relatively few parts, whichsimplifies the manufacture and'tlierefor'edessens the cost or [this kindof container.

Other advantages will appear as the specificatiol progresses.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 shows a can of cylindrical shape andcover therefor that shows one embodiment of the invention; (the dottedline shows the place wherethe can'is to be hermetically closed, that is,soldered). Fig. 2 shows a can of cylindrical shape similar to that ofFig. 1 and cover therefor that shows also the improvement of Figure 1,which cover however is provided with a screw-winding which fits to thescrew windprovided' on the corresponding part of the container.

' Fig. 8shows a rectangular box'with cover, 1

such as might be used tor canning sardines this box having also theimprovements of Figures 1 and 2. V Fig. 4L shows the modification oftheinvention as'illustrated also with Figures 1, 2 and '3; in Figure it thecan is shown as being closed. i

5 and 6 show another modification of the invention. Fig. 5 shows the canclosed, while in Fig. 6 the can is opened. I

Fig. 7 shows other modifications "of the invention whereby the containeris hermetically closed and soldered on top instead of on the sides asshown in Figs. 1 to 6.

To best suit this invention, the cans 2, 3

or 4', etc., or boxes 5 etc, must be ofthe kind which are provided withsuch covers 7 8, 9, or 10 respectively, that have turned down borders11, 12, 14 or 15 respectively. When the can is'o'f a cylindrical shapesuch as shown in Fig. 2 the downwardly turned border may be providedwith a screw-wind ing 16 which must lit the screw-winding 17 that isprovided on the corresponding part of the containerQ. It is however notan absolute necessity that the borders of the cover be downwardly bent,and the cover may be of a smaller diameter, circumference respectively,than that of the container, such as a can or box (see for instance Fig.7

One of the novel features resides in'the manner of hermetically closingand solder ing the can or box at the part where the border (or loweredge of the turned down border) is situated when the cover is on the canor box; and consists also in means whereby no can-opener or any otherinstrument is necessary for opening'the'ca'n or box, and by that'thisinvention shows another advantage over other hermetically closed andsoldered preserving food containers such as cans or boxeswhich can beopened enl'y by means of can-openers or like instruments.

7 According to the modification'of Figs. 1', 2, '3 and 4, the noveltyconsists of a' cover 7, 8or 10 which on its downward bentborder v11 or120i 15, respectively, is provided with downward flaring metal-flaps 22which simply stay 'close to the sides of the con t ainer without,however, gripping or exerting pressure to any part 01" the container.soft solder is applied between the containers 2, 3 or 5 respectively,and the downward bent borders 11, 12 or 15, respectively, at the placewhich 'corr'e'sponds'in height to the parflthat outside is indicated bythe dotted lines 30 shown in Figure 4.. The

solder or other binder must extend as far upward as indicated by thedotted lineBO so that no leak will be formed by-the slit ends that reachas far {LS indicated by the dotted line 30.. By turning up each'flap 22with the fingers or by means of a suitable instrument such as pincers sofar that their bending point is situated at '30 '(see Figure 4), thepart 11 will be loosened from the solder and the cover is then sofarseparated from the container that it can be removed completelywithout causing small metal articles tofall into the 'eatable's."

By lifting the flaps 22, that donot serve for gripping the container, asfar that the bending point is at it is obvious that the slits orincisions that separate these flaps from each other will be forciblyelongated, that is, the sheet metal of the part 11 somewhat abovetheupper end of the slot (which end is at 30) will be ruptured to acertain extent so as to be completely freed from the can to which thispart is soldered. In order to permit the tearing up of themetal when theflaps are-to be lifted with the fingers, it is necessary to use a softmetal such as tin or lead etc., or an alloy of such metals for part 11and the flaps 22 thereof. The metal used for these parts can be soft because these flaps do not need to be flexible, as is necessary withspring lips or the like that have to grip. The characteristics of thecan of Figure 1 and the method of sealing it applies also to the cans,boxes, respectively, illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.

There is also a certain advantage by rupturing the metal at the innerslit ends when the can is to be opened because it will be readily seenby the purchaser of such cans or boxes that the same had been openedalready if the metal is ruptured.

The same principal is applied to the device shown in Fig. 5. Comparedwith the devices of Figs. 1, 2, 8 and 1, the difference consists simplyin that there is a strip 31 which on its upper part is dentate'd orwhich forms flaps while the lower border.

maybe straight. As shown in Fig. 6, the part 31 is united with thecan-body a and the soft solder is applied between the lower part of theflaps and the downward bent border 14: of the cover 9. By turning downthe flaps as far as to have the bending point at 32 whereby part of thestrip 31 will be ruptured in a similar way as has been explained inconnection with the part 11 of Fig. a, the cover will be separated fromthe part 31 to which it was soldered, and can be removed from the canwithout causing small metal-particles to fall into the eatables. Thepart 31 is preferably soldered first to the downward bent border 14 andwhenthe eatables are in the can (or box) the cover is put on the can (orbox) andthe part 31 is soldered at 33 to the can 4 (or box) Referringmore particularly to Fig. 7 in which another modification of theinvention is shown, the cover 25 of the can (or box) has a-smallerdiameter than the container 26. It is therefore apparent that the soldering (or hermetically closing) must be made onthe top of the container,and the cover must therefore receive the incisions on its circumference.It is necessary therefore to have the cover still lying on atop-portion'27 of the container. The opening left by said top-portion ofthe container therefore will be still smaller than the cover. The edgeof the top-portion of the container may be rounded.

For taking off the cover it is simply necessary to lift the flaps 22outwardly with the fingers or with a tool similarly to the modi-.fications illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive and thereby break thesolder or any other kind of binder that is employed. 1 Also by usingthis modification of the invention no metal particles will fall into theeatables contained in said can (or box).

The flaps 22 of the can shown in Fig. 7 being of the same character asthose of the cans or boxes shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive 7 permit alsothe tearing in of the metal of those modifications that might be fairlyem bodied in the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a container including a cover, a part c made of sheet metal andser'vingfor uniting said cover with said container and for hermeticallyclosing the container by means of a binder, and being positioned more orless remote from the opening of the container,

said part having incisions which are made so that there is always a flapleft between two of said incisions, these so formed flaps placed closeto the container. when it is closed but so that they do not grip orexert pressure whatsoever thereupon or to, said cover, the binderapplied at the inner side of said part in such manner thatsaid flaps areleft free from binder, said flaps adapted to be pulled outwardly to suchan extent with the fingers or with some tool that the portion of saidpart to which the binder is applied will be pulled away from thecontainer and thereby ruptured and said. binder broken or separatedtherefrom thus permitting the removal of the cover from the containerwit-bout causing particles of the sheet metal or particles of the binderto fall into the contents of the container. 7 i

'2. In a food container with a cover, the

cover having a part made of soft sheet metal arranged remotely from theopening of the container and the border of said part formed byfiaps,'said flaps held .close to'the container without, however,exertingv pres sure thereupon, said part united with the container bymeans of a binding materialso as to hermetically close the container butleaving the flaps free from said binding material, the flaps adapted tobe pulled outwardly with the fingers to such an extent that the sheetmetal of said part will be torn in and the portion of said part to whichthe binding material is applied pulled away from the container thusbreaking the binding material and thereby permitting the removal of thecover from the container without causin particles of the sheet metal orof the binding material'to'fall into the con tents of the container. r

3. In a container with a cover, a part of sheet metal soldered tothe'container thus hermetically closing the container, said part havingincisions made in a manner that flaps are formed said flaps held closeto the container but not exerting pressure thereupon, said flaps leftfree from solder and adapted to be bent outwardly to such an extent withthe fingers or by means of a suitable tool that the "soldered portion ofsaid part will be pulled away from the container and thereby ruptured,breaking the solder and permitting thereby the removal of the cover fromthe container without causing particles of the sheet metal or of thesolder to fall into the contents of the container.

HEINRICH KARL.

